New Finale life?

Dorico
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According to some reports released today, it appears that a Norwegian company is in the running to acquire Finale, thereby enabling it to continue operating.

At the moment, I have no details regarding a potential overhaul of the programming architecture, which I believe would benefit from a bit of a tidy-up, as in its latest version (v27) it feels a bit like a mille-feuille.

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Was this announced on April 1?

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1st April…?

Can you provide a link to “some reports”…?

Otherwise, I’m not sure that many will see the funny side.

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What’s the date today???

I’m also offering a really nice, well-constructed and time-tested roadway over the East River in NYC for sale. It’s a bahgain.

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Hello ObiwanKenobi, where did you read this rumor?
Kind regards
Sven

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“Recent acquisition news you may have seen online refers to a different company named Finale Inventory, which was acquired — but by a Canadian firm, not a Norwegian one.”

Probably…

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I also heard that the same company will offer Finale as a free and open-source software. Someone shared with me these new exclusive features:

  • “Finale now auto-detects wrong enharmonic spelling and judges you”
  • “New AI feature adds unnecessary tuplets to everything”
  • “Human Playback now includes dramatic sighs from the violas”
  • Finale now warns: “Are you sure you want that key signature?”
  • New SmartScore feature automatically converts all clean rhythms into syncopation.
  • Automatic page turns now happen at the worst possible moment for pianists.
  • Human Playback now adds subtle ego to trumpet entrances.
  • The Setup Wizard now asks whether your piece is “wistful,” “academically angry,” or “film-score tragic.”
  • New plugin: Parallel Fifth Finder, now with a “composer denial” mode.
  • Finale now detects when you meant “rit.” but emotionally wrote “collapse.”
  • Linked parts now become unlinked whenever the deadline is under 24 hours.
  • New choral mode automatically respells every note to start a rehearsal argument.
  • Percussion maps now include “triangle, but with attitude.”
  • Finale can now identify whether a fermata is structural, expressive, or just panic.
  • New feature: Cadenza Length Optimizer — ignores your input and keeps going.
  • Rehearsal marks now skip directly from A to Q to make the conductor look prepared.
  • Automatic spacing now widens measures in proportion to your uncertainty.
  • Finale now offers real-time feedback: “That passage is technically possible, but rude.”
  • Human Playback now inserts page-rustling ambience for added realism.
  • Grace notes now come with optional emotional backstory.
  • New engraving preset: Urtext but passive-aggressive.
  • Copy/Paste now preserves formatting, except the formatting you needed.
  • Cue notes can now be generated from the future.
  • Finale now flags voicings as “playable,” “ambitious,” or “good luck to the violas.”
  • New jazz setting automatically adds one chord symbol nobody agrees on.
  • Transposition tool now asks: “Concert pitch, or chaos?”
  • Ossias can now multiply on their own if left unattended.
  • Finale now detects hidden parallel octaves and quietly tells your teacher.
  • New AI orchestrator doubles everything in the horns for no clear reason.
  • Human Playback now distinguishes between dolce, molto dolce, and composer seeking validation.
  • Finale now auto-centers titles based on confidence, not page width.
  • Tuplet tool now includes 11:7 “for contemporary relevance.”
  • Pickup measures can now trigger existential warnings.
  • New feature: Instant Mahler, which adds three staves and a cowbell.
  • Dynamic markings now scale automatically from pp to “this ensemble has no balance.”
  • Finale now recognizes when a passage only exists because Sibelius users annoyed you.
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:rofl: Happy April Fools’ Day!

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A few thoughts on these “features”:

  1. Who knew that a trumpeter’s ego could be subtle…?
  2. Can we get some coughing thrown in the mix on that playback?
  3. Only one chord symbol…??? Slackers.
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You can now have Hossflat as well (although it defaults to double sharps there is a workaround)

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Finale giving you any help with anything is too far-fetched to be plausible.

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  • Finale automatically calculates the highest and lowest dynamics in any given file, and inserts loud candy wrapper rustling during extremely soft dynamics. (There is an option to change this to a random cellphone sound. Finale for Apple will automatically default to iPhone 3 sounds.)
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And Igor Engraver will soon be added as well!

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:joy::joy::joy: :scream::exploding_head::rofl::rofl: (my reaction to this thread)

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I know you’re kidding, but it sorta kinda is. The developer of Igor Engraver is developing a new notation program called Ooloi. Here’s the development blog:

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And I’d like to add to the new features listed by NorFont:

  • Finale will now decide whether the composition you enter is good or should be bin-ed. This new feature needs a few improvements, as at the moment it rejects Mozart, Brahms, Strauss and Shostakovich.
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On the market now!

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Problem is, some of the wistful “features” for April Fools Day aren’t too far removed from many of the longstanding issues that were never resolved in Finale, like mysterious non-notated accents on playback, metronome markings that somehow got changed to “velocity” in their playback settings, and my favorite from 2021 and onwards: the first system n page view appears blank upon opening a file unless one changes the zoom. It was like April Fools all the time. You never knew when something would go south but it often did.

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Well, I was (for real) disappointed when Igor never materialized (fully). It looked like it had a lot of promise - at least for 1999. Nice to see the brains behind it are still at it.

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